Lockdown: free/open OS maker pays Microsoft ransom for the right to boot on users' computers

Lockdown: free/open OS maker pays Microsoft ransom for the right to boot on users' computers

A quiet announcement from the Fedora Linux community signals a titanic shift in the way that the computer market will work from now on, and a major threat to free/open operating systems. Microsoft and several PC vendors have teamed up to ensure that only operating systems bearing Microsoft's cryptographic signature will be able to boot on their hardware, meaning that unless Microsoft has blessed your favorite flavor of GNU/Linux or BSD, you won't be able to just install it on your machine, or boot to it from a USB stick or CD to try it out. There is a work-around for some systems involving a finicky and highly technical override process, but all that means is that installing proprietary software is easy and installing free/open software is hard.

At issue is a new facility called UEFI, which allows a computer's bootloader to distinguish between different operating systems by examining their cryptographic signatures. In theory, this can be used to alert you if malicious software has modified your OS, putting you at risk of having your passwords harvested, your video and sound secretly captured, and your files plundered. But rather than simply alerting users to unsigned or changed OSes Microsoft and its partners have elected to require a very complex and intimidating process that -- by design or accident -- is certain to scare off most unsophisticated users.

Fedora has opted to solve this problem by paying to receive Microsoft's blessing, so that UEFI-locked computers will boot Fedora without requiring any special steps. The payment is comparatively small ($99). When you multiply $99 by all the different versions and flavors of free/open operating systems, it adds up to a substantial revenue stream for Microsoft cost to, and drag upon the free/open software world.

What's more, free/open OSes that don't pay the $99 Microsoft tax will not boot at all on Microsoft-certified ARM-based computers, because Microsoft has forbidden it partners from booting an OS that hasn't been signed by Microsoft, even if the user takes some affirmative step to install a competing system.

Here's Fedora's Matthew Garrett explaining their decision:

Quote:

We've been working on this for months. This isn't an attractive solution, but it is a workable one. We came to the conclusion that every other approach was unworkable. The cause of free software isn't furthered by making it difficult or impossible for unskilled users to run Linux, and while this approach does have its downsides it does also avoid us ending up where we were in the 90s. Users will retain the freedom to run modified software and we wouldn't have accepted any solution that made that impossible.

But is this a compromise? Of course. There's already inequalities between Fedora and users - trademarks prevent the distribution of the Fedora artwork with modified distributions, and much of the Fedora infrastructure is licensed such that some people have more power than others. This adds to that inequality. It's not the ideal outcome for anyone, and I'm genuinely sorry that we weren't able to come up with a solution that was better. This isn't as bad as I feared it would be, but nor is it as good as I hoped it would be.

What about ARM

Microsoft's certification requirements for ARM machines forbid vendors from offering the ability to disable secure boot or enrol user keys. While we could support secure boot in the same way as we plan to on x86, it would prevent users from running modified software unless they paid money for a signing key. We don't find that acceptable and so have no plans to support it.

Thankfully this shouldn't be anywhere near as much of a problem as it would be in the x86 world. Microsoft have far less influence over the ARM market, and the only machines affected by this will be the ones explicitly designed to support Windows. If you want to run Linux on ARM then there'll be no shortage of hardware available to you.

Re: Lockdown: free/open OS maker pays Microsoft ransom for the right to boot on users' computers

More Microsoft monopoly.... -.-

My personal opinion... This is a big mistake because it threatens the freedom of open source software users once again, since with Microsoft's new "Windows 8" already makes it impossible to dual-boot both Linux and Windows on one hard drive (which is what I do)... Now it will be nearly impossible to even install Linux or BSD at all!
He doesn't want Linux to be stuck like it was in the 90s? Yet this will likely hinder success of Linux/Unix, as the Linux community has grown a lot in the 2000s. >.>
Absolutely ridiculous!

Re: Lockdown: free/open OS maker pays Microsoft ransom for the right to boot on users' computers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrian Zamolxis

If that truly happens Microsoft is gonna get the mother of all bitchslaps from anti-trust organizations .

Yep, they're looking at another multi-billion Euro fine in the EU alone and a requirement to enable user override for UEFI. Problem is, it will take years for this to happen, and that's what Microsoft is counting on.

Re: Lockdown: free/open OS maker pays Microsoft ransom for the right to boot on users' computers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerebrus

Yep, they're looking at another multi-billion Euro fine in the EU alone and a requirement to enable user override for UEFI. Problem is, it will take years for this to happen, and that's what Microsoft is counting on.

Re: Lockdown: free/open OS maker pays Microsoft ransom for the right to boot on users' computers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerebrus

Yep, they're looking at another multi-billion Euro fine in the EU alone and a requirement to enable user override for UEFI. Problem is, it will take years for this to happen, and that's what Microsoft is counting on.

How the does the risk out weighs the reward with this?
Huge fines, anti-trust lawsuits and pissed off stock holders.

Microsoft's arrogance will be their downfall.

Apple and Linux crowed have been watching this for years.
They will dwell on this forever, till the end of time.
I believe soon, within the next 5-10 years, the Microsoft
lockdown will break and lead to the decline and fall of Microsoft.
After this global recession is over there will be a HUGE massive
tech boom will happen. Allot bright minds out there without a job,
playing around with linux and BSD. A allot of them are next Bill Gates
and Steve Jobs with billion dollar ideas...

Just example, the social networks.
AOL/YAHOO/MSN profiles started it, now just a cesspool of spam.
Myspace had it's monopoly, now just half-dead commerical cesspool.
Facebook currently slowly loseing its grips...

Anyone here see where I coming from?
Seeing double edge sword?

In all, I welcome the Lockdown,
It will inspire people to hack it to death and use their minds.
Another nail in coffen in the slow process of the M$ decline.